


New boyfriend

by Clara_Jimmy



Series: Two storeys away AU [2]
Category: NCT (Band), WAYV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Alternate Universe - Not K-Pop Idols, COVID-19, Cat, Coronavirus, Established Relationship, Kunten, M/M, Mentioned NCT Ensemble, No Angst, Pandemics, Quarantine, Slice of Life, fluff?, like I´ve said they´re fine :D
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-12 12:08:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29759406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clara_Jimmy/pseuds/Clara_Jimmy
Summary: So, you´ve got a new boyfriend during a pandemic.
Relationships: Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Qian Kun
Series: Two storeys away AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2187195
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21





	1. End of summer ⛅

“Hey, hey, hey, he´s mine! How did you get the privilege of greeting him first?” Ten asked, feigning to be really offended and frowning at his cat. Kun was still crouching on the floor, a few steps away from the front door, and he was currently petting Devil, who seemed eager to say hello.

“You get along really well,” Ten remarked, smiling, “she bit Doyoung the first time he came over!” Kun laughed with Ten at the fond memory of one of Ten´s long suffering friends and looked up at him, smiling.

“It seems we get along, I really like her, she´s so cute,” he said and stood up and moved closer to Ten who seized the opportunity without much thought and hugged him.

He held onto him for a moment that was longer than the initial hug people usually went for, but it felt entirely appropriate. If there even had been a possibility for some awkwardness between them, then it had been immediately dissipated by that contact and a mutual feeling of peace, delight and “finally”. It felt new and altogether good. They broke apart, but not entirely; Ten reached out to toy with a strand of Kun´s blue hair. He still couldn’t believe that it was real; that Kun had chosen, albeit in a state of a mental breakdown, such a bold colour.

“It´s nice to see you like this,” he said and chuckled, “meeting like normal people used to back when the world still existed, I mean back when it was still normal. Pre 2020 style.”

“You´re right. And it´s long overdue.”

“So, this is my place, welcome!” Ten exclaimed, throwing his arms out and gesturing around, “this here is my living room! You want a tour?”

“Yeah, give me a tour, along with some commentary you usually give to tourists,” Kun replied and followed him.

Kun was familiar with the layout of Ten´s apartment, from their conversations and video chats and because it was a lot like his own place. But while actually standing in the living room, it felt a lot nicer, maybe warmer (though not in the sense of temperature). Because seeing it through the screen of his laptop or phone couldn’t compare. And Ten was here, it was his place, so it felt very personal. For the next several minutes Ten led Kun around the room, pointing at various pieces of furniture, equipment or decoration as if they were landmarks or objects displayed in a museum. So the tour started at the doorway, continued to the kitchen and dining area, the living room-like area with the couch and coffee table that also looked out over the fire escape stairs, and then it ended in the bedroom and the bathroom.

“What a wonderful tour,” Kun commented as he looked at the washing machine next to the shower, “I could never see that anywhere else in the world.”

“These ancient ruins can only be found in this part of NCT,” Ten said, smirking.

After that they decided to go sit on the stairs and enjoy their first real date in the last rays of warm sunlight and they talked just like they were used to do. Just like they expected they ended up kissing, which was very new, and also a long-awaited action so it was by nature rather lively and chaotic.

The sun was setting on N city that late summer afternoon, but it was rising on the two of them.

* * * * *

* * * * *

New, but actually very familiar, was this whole arrangement. It was unsurprising as they had fallen into the state of dating slowly and it was all build on their friendship.

It was normal to spend hours on the couch or in bed watching anime or listening to their musical discoveries, singing together or talking about their work. They worked normally and met in their free time. They regularly cooked and ate together, but now they also did their shopping for each other or went to the supermarket together (venturing into the outside world still felt like a post-apocalyptic adventure). It became a standard to see Kun join Ten on the stairs and sit next to him or to see him suddenly climb in through the window. Ten would just show up unannounced. Kun would hear him call out to him from the outside or unexpectedly have arms hugging him from behind. Just showing up as if they lived in each other´s apartments. Which wasn’t far from the truth at this point.

It was normal to video chat with friends together, but even more people joined the group now. Sicheng, who still hasn’t registered any major changes in his life made an appearance every now and then. Renjun and Chenle, who were ecstatic to hear from Kun and also to pass all of their classes really liked talking with Ten. Mark and Johnny were surprisingly not going crazy from spending every day together. Hendery and Dejun were thinking about forming a musical duo and Dejun was already prepared to change his name to DJ Xiao despite not being a DJ at all. Taeyong and his cute aquarium were prospering under current conditions.

And they all had a _reaction_ to the news of Ten and Kun dating.

“You´ve got a new boyfriend during a pandemic?! What the hell? How??!”

“What about social distancing??!?!!”

“Well, we are basically quarantined together,” Ten replied and their friends could be seen nodding.

Taeyong, who checked up on everyone from time to time and was conscious about his friends and what and how they were doing, tried hard to look surprised, but was the worst liar. Sicheng seemed surprised at first, like he had already forgotten Kun and Ten were neighbours now. But he promptly said that it made sense and left it at that. Johnny wanted the “juicy details” again. Ten started to speak, but there was suddenly some problem (?) with the wifi (Kun wouldn’t know anything about it...). Lucas got very excited and Jaehyun congratulated them, even though he confessed he wasn’t sure what was going on. Dejun and Hendery cheered for them, as did Chenle and Renjun, thought the latter ones grumbled something like “please don’t traumatise us”.

“So, who else is living together now?” Ten asked with a downright evil voice and smirked at the computer screen.

“Sorry, the connection is bad, there´s a solar flare right now jdxf!ci-klg3xid!elp!§!” Renjun retorted, making inhuman screeching noises while the rest laughed, but Mark looked visibly relieved.

So Ten and Kun´s routines weren’t new. Still, it _was_ a new relationship. They were still learning new things about each other. A _new boyfriend_ , were the words Ten or Kun would use when thinking of each other. Their daily lives were enriched of new interactions and feelings.

The last time Ten had been in such a relationship had been a few years ago. At least that´s what it felt like to Ten because no doubt the relationship with Kun was serious in a way his most recent _things_ hadn’t been. He had been more attuned to dating for fun, just for a few weeks at most. He had enjoyed the relationships and spending time with his boyfriends without planning their future. If the pandemic hadn’t happened, it would have never been like this. Ten would split his free time between his friends and himself. He and Kun would have gone on dates and maybe spent a couple of days in a row together, but now Ten was used to being home all the time and so hanging out in the apartment together constantly was just normal.

Kun´s last serious dating experience had been a few months before the pandemic had started. Back then Kun had been the one to break it off, knowing that it had been leading nowhere, feeling that the bond they had once shared had been disintegrating and any attempts at fixing it had been unsuccessful. Eventually, they had both admitted they hadn’t been really happy. Now Kun was the one more prepared for a romantic relationship, wanting to be part of one and seeing it in his ideal version of future. The kind where you hold hands when you go outside for a walk, take couple photos and spend time at home doing all the domestic stuff.

Kun also thought about introducing Ten to his family. His parents had heard of him from Kun´s stories and now they were aware that they were a couple. His parents were happy Kun and Ten could keep each other´s company. But Kun could sense that it was too early for that. A serious long-term romantic relationship has never been Ten´s big dream, so it was unusual for him at first and taking it slow was the best. This kind of introduction left Ten feeling a little unsettled. But he didn’t even have to say anything and was glad that Kun understood and didn’t bring the possibility up yet.

* * * * *

* * * * *

New was having actual dates where they could touch and hug and kiss freely. Having sex was obviously the newest aspect of their relationship.

Kun couldn’t say how much time they have spent in bed already except _a lot of fucking time_. And it made perfect sense considering they had gone a couple of months flirting and toying with each other, basically a foreplay by the end. He remembered all those suggestive looks and teasing conversations and jokes and also when they had started sending each other sexy photos. How after a few weeks it had been nearly unbearable not to be able to touch each other and do what they had really wanted to do. Now they were actually sexting when they found themselves in their respective apartments at night. And if Kun had thought Ten had been flirting before, he definitely wasn’t prepared for his 100 % flirty mode in person. The results were _fatal_.

Ten had of course shared his famous hoe anthems playlist with Kun and they would put it on and it would be so much fun. Ten was excited his apartment would finally live up to its reputation and witness some “sin” after a long time. So fucking was the best quarantine pastime activity so far.

Now they could say they almost lived in each other´s apartments, so well were they acquainted with the layout and all the things that were present there, and got to know each other´s night and morning routines. In the evening Ten would be drawing on his tablet and Kun would be writing lyrics or singing to himself or to Ten. In the morning neither wanted to get up right away. Kun´s bad habit was eating late night snacks in bed and Ten´s was forgetting to take out his airpods, sleeping or even showering with them.

In Kun´s bedroom there was a dresser right under the window and a wardrobe at the other wall. An armchair stood in the corner next the dresser and Kun would sometimes leave a hoodie or a sweater there if he was feeling a little lazy. But he would still just sit on the bed as it was more comfortable. His bed faced the doorway and you could see right into the living room. Ten found the bedroom much cosier than his own. Also, while rummaging through Kun´s bedside table he found a deck of cards and thus found out about Kun´s magical past. Kun learned Ten had a tattoo.

Ten´s bed was located right below the window and he would use the sill as a temporary nightstand, but usually there wasn’t anything on it because Devil liked to walk on it. Ten liked how the light from the street or the moon fell onto the bed at night. Kun soon found he liked it too. He had also discovered, the first time he had slept in Ten´s bed, that the norm was being woken up (attacked) by a cat´s paw in the face. Ten had laughed at Kun´s expression, partially perplexed, slightly offended and still sleepy, considering it actually really cute and funny. Ten had snuggled Devil then and Kun a moment later to Kun´s half-hearted protests that he hadn’t been his priority.

It was new for both to get out of bed and share breakfast with each other at the dinner table, but it was a nice change.


	2. Autumn 🍃

With the arrival of autumn, the days grew colder and darker and the evenings and nights now stayed for longer. In such a weather Ten and Kun couldn’t sit around the fire escape stairs for hours anymore and climbing to one another´s apartments through the window became a sparer occurrence. Doors existed, after all.

Not spending time outside on the stairs was definitely new for the couple. It was such an intrinsical part of their relationships and they agreed that it felt like something was missing now. They were missing the lazy time spent in the sun, chatting and observing the quiet empty streets. If it wasn’t for the lockdown those moments wouldn’t have been so significant, but since the beginning it had been the only way for them to meet and they had many amazing memories of that place. Meeting in person was a million times better, but still.

So Kun and Ten watched how the season changed from the comfort of their homes while holding a cup of hot tea or coffee to warm their hands, and there was always some music playing in the background. The temperatures dropped, even the air looked colder to the naked eye and the leaves on the trees lining the street went from green to yellow and red and brown, and Ten and Kun took pictures on their phones to maybe share in their group chat later.

Singing together wasn’t new, but posting a recording of it online certainly was. Kun played his guitar and they both sang and now there was a cover of _Show Me Love_ * on Kun´s YouTube channel and comments that had flooded in asking for more.

Every time Kun glanced at Ten and saw him read the lyrics from his phone or singing with his eyes closed, he felt so happy and glad that he was with him. Ten liked how they merged when it came to music and time passed quickly, but he enjoyed every second. These days Ten could just look at Kun and feel that he was at a great place in his life.

* * * * *

* * * * *

The wind was rushing behind the windows and leaves were dancing above the ground when Ten invited Kun over for a dinner date, to celebrate a “half-anniversary” as he put it. Kun arrived to find out that the dinner has already been prepared and he marvelled at it, seeing the dishes Ten has laid out on the table in the living room.

Kun has showed up holding a bottle of white wine and wearing a white button up shirt and black slacks, and he had even put on dress shoes, so he looked stunning. He had also styled his hair to perfection and Ten thought it looked really interesting, dual coloured as it was now that his hair had grown out a little. Ten had also put more effort into his looks tonight; he was dressed to the nines and could easily become the centre of attention of any club in NCT. Not much could beat black shoes, trousers and a loose shirt, slightly unbuttoned to reveal the thin gold chain around his neck. He had swept his hair back.

“It´s our anniversary, Kun, what did you think would happen?” Ten asked in a low voice as he wound his arms around Kun´s waist from behind, “you said you wanted to go to a nice restaurant together so we _have to_ have a dinner like this!”

“But this really blew my mind, Ten! How was I supposed to know you would cook for us?”

“I´ve cooked one dish, let´s be real here, the rest is ordered. But the cooking took me like the entire day! Would you believe it?”

“Yeah, I would, it takes some time. What exactly are we having tonight?”

“Come on, let´s take a look!” Ten exclaimed as he tugged Kun by the hand, to the dinner table.

Ten had prepared three dishes in total; fried rice, dumplings and a salad. He was quite proud of himself. He had managed to create more than just edible fried rice, arrange all of it to look great, not lose his mind and also not step on the curious cat that owned his apartment. He had also bought two tall slim candles to put on the table and lit them. Kun placed the bottle of wine on the table.

“This is so nice, thank you for the dinner, Ten,” Kun said and kissed him.

“You´re welcome,” Ten replied, smiling at him, “we should have anniversaries like this, I like how it feels.”

“Me to...”  


“And you look amazing, wow! You look even better than usually and that´s something to say,” Ten said and Kun beamed at him with one of his most radiant smiles, loving the compliment.

“You look wonderful too, Ten,” Kun told him to which Ten replied with another winsome smile.

“Do you wanna eat right away?” Ten asked, “we should definitely open that wine and let it breathe.”

New was celebrating anniversaries, events and dates that were important to them as a couple, starting with this one. Ten and Kun´s very first meeting had been marked by a warm summer morning, at the start of June.

The anniversary date went on well and time passed by quickly like water. More than half of the food has been eaten by now (only like three dumplings remained) and Kun praised Ten´s cooking and Ten tried to look blatantly smug. The bottle still held most of the wine and their glasses were not empty yet. The two tall candles offered the only light in the room and now were considerably shorter (and Ten hadn’t bought cheap ones).

“Half a year since you shouted at me,” Ten said through giggles, “saying ´hi my name is Qian Kun!´” They both abandoned their food and laughed at the memory.

“Half a year since you responded to a total stranger and gave him your phone number,” Kun retorted after he calmed down a little.

Almost half a year had passed since that bright morning and sometimes it felt like it had been years ago, at other times like the days had just poured away like a river. Now it was October.

“And that´s how I know the exact day, hour, minute and second,” Ten said. He wasn’t that good at remembering dates, so thank the fuck for his phone.

“That´s so funny, we could go over our conversation!” Kun said with excitement.

“We should roleplay what happened when we first met on the fire escape stairs,” Ten said.

“Fuck no, it´s freezing outside!” Kun exclaimed and gave Ten a scowl that could repel demons (not Ten though).

“OK then climb on the table and you´re be like on the stairs at your apartment and I´ll sit on the floor...,” Ten began to ramble and Kun began to laugh at his out-of-this-world ideas and penchant for drama.

“You´re so dramatic, I swear! Seriously I will never be bored around you, Ten! Do you want to start a theatre club by any chance?”

“Oh, we could roleplay Romeo and Juliet. That has a balcony. But like without the dying at the end.”

“So, you´d rather be dating a girl? But Ten, what would you even do with her?”

“OK, it could be a Romeo/Mercutio AU.”

“He dies as well! Chittaphon! Stop killing me off!”

“Don´t call me that! And I would never!” Ten gasped.

“Anyway, the next bottle of wine I buy should probably go to Sicheng, because without him we might have never met,” Kun said. He really should thank Sicheng for being their unwitting matchmaker.

“Or it would take years, Kun! Twenty years from now when the pandemic finally ends-.“ Ten didn’t have a chance to finish his sentence as Kun threatened to throw his chopsticks at him.

“Twenty?!”

“What? I´m optimistic!”

“You! Twenty years! So twenty years with you?” Kun pointed at him and was about to jump out of his chair.

“What? Something is bothering you, babe?” Ten asked, ready to bolt the moment Kun would.

“Yes, you are!”

* * * * *

* * * * *

“So you will be done soon?” Kun asked excitedly, “will you show me first?”

“Hm... yeah, I think you can see the painting first, before anyone else,” Ten answered. Kun was closing all the files and tabs on his screen, pushing work aside for today, and then moved his laptop onto the side of the bed.

Monday afternoon found them lounging on Kun´s bed. Ten had made progress with the painting of planets and then had come over and now he was telling Kun all about it and waiting for him to finish working on his business project so they could maybe check out some tv series. Or more youtube videos about space* Ten had become interested in lately because of the latest commissioned painting. But suddenly there was a noise and the second Ten heard it and recognized it, his heart stopped for a second. This was something he wanted to avoid for a while.

“Ahm... is that...?” Kun asked tentatively, “was that the sound of my armchair being clawed by a cat?”

“Hahaha, no silly, what makes you think so?” Ten laughed awkwardly into the background of suspicious drawn-out scratching noises coming from behind the armchair and he got up from the bed to find Devil.

“Ten?” Kun asked and gave Ten a questioning look.

“Yes, Kun????” Ten replied innocently, smiling too sweetly.

“Ten!” Kun exclaimed and chuckled. He wasn’t even frustrated, just amused, mostly by Ten´s utterly funny and endearing behaviour. Kun was on his feet at once, walking towards the armchair by the window and the cat that was hiding there. Having his apartment destroyed by a cute cat was definitely new to Kun.

“No, Devil! You can´t scratch my furniture!” Kun exclaimed. Ten chuckled, but felt embarrassed as well. He didn’t want his cat to destroy his boyfriend´s things either.

“OK, yes, that was my cat attacking your armchair,” he said after half-successfully prying her off of the fabric, some of her claws still stuck in there because she was a stubborn creature.

“No,” Ten reprimanded her, picking her up completely and holding her to his chest, “no destroying the furniture, Devil!”

Ever since Ten had brought Devil upstairs for the first time, he has been waiting for her to inevitably start thrashing Kun´s apartment like she normally did to his own place. RIP the cute pillow from Taeyong. RIP that one shirt for special occasions. RIP his _ripped_ jeans. They had left her get acquainted with the place and she had spent the morning under the couch or cautiously stalking around, but eventually had grown comfortable (they had given her treats, which could had been a factor). But now she was _too_ comfortable. This time when Ten had taken Devil with him he had been prepared to kind of cat-proof Kun´s apartment.

Ten put the cat on the floor and then picked up her favourite toy, but she didn’t give a fuck about it, of course.

“OMG, why can´t you play with this instead?!” he whined as he waved the fish doll in front of her, “Devil no! Why are you so naughty?”

“She´s learnt from you,” Kun remarked as he sat down on the floor to scratch Devil behind her ears.

“Hey! Also, thank you,” Ten said, grinning, but then exhaled and shook his head, “but really, this cat is impossible sometimes. I love her so much, but she may actually be a spawn of the devil. I´ve tried teaching her, but it has never really worked.”

“I don’t think you can even train cats that much,” Kun said, shrugging.

“No, you can. I´ve seen videos of people training their cats,” Ten said, sitting down next to him, “doing all sorts of tricks, not to mention having manners and not scratching everything around... Devil, can you do this?” Ten moved his hand, wanting Devil to follow his movements and turn around. He tried a few times. She just started at him.

“She doesn’t want to... that´s a shame, it would be cool if she could do that,” Kun said and scratched her again and she started to purr, “I don’t have that much furniture to begin with so...”

“But she´s adorable! I can’t be mad at you!” Ten said and picked up Devil and hugged her against his chest as the purring intensified, “you´re my demon baby! I guess it´s goodbye to your armchair, babe.” Kun made a displeased noise.

“Maybe we can train her," he said, “show me the videos of people training their cats.” They stood up and went back to sit on the bed, Ten carrying Devil along with them.

* * * * *

* * * * *

“Quarantining with you is fun,” Kun said suddenly, “it´s comforting, but so entertaining, Ten.”

They had just finished watching a film, getting into a heated debate about similar stories, sci-fi and related genres. Ten had been still searching on his computer and so Kun had reached for the candle on the coffee table, lighting it to get in tune with the autumn atmosphere. He had glanced at Ten and known how much he liked all of this and that had led to his unplanned confession.

“I´m really glad we can spend time together,” Kun said.

“Me too, baby,” Ten replied, looking up at him. Ten had gotten into the habit of calling him “baby” or “babe” and Kun thought he would probably kill anyone else who would even try. But a lot of things about Ten were just lovable and hearing these words from him made Kun feel pleasantly warm, he liked it. And Ten liked using endearing terms on the people he cherished, so he naturally included Kun without being too aware of it. Initially Ten had thought Kun would be the kind of a man to secretly like it and outwardly protest, but he was only right for like a week.

“You´re the best company to have during this thing,” Ten said and smiled and leaned away from the laptop to kiss Kun. Kun gave him a smile in return and brushed his fingers through Ten´s hair and they started kissing again. It was a peaceful, quiet moment and lasted until they just lay next to each other on the couch, absorbed in thoughts.

“You know, it sometimes makes me wonder about what will happen once the pandemic ends,” Kun confessed.

A person shouldn’t spend all of their time with only one person, especially a romantic partner, as people could grow unhealthily dependant. Time alone or with others was equally as important. For Kun and Ten it depended on what each day brought, their work and personal interests, but they usually met every day. They have gotten used to each other´s presence.

Ten liked having his own apartment where he could be totally alone if he wanted to. It was good for clearing his mind. Normally, he would go out for a walk, but now he would simply put on some relaxing music for meditation and close his eyes to the world or he would draw on his tablet. People though he was such an extravert, but he needed this too. Kun was similar, though he was used to being alone and fine with it because he was an only child. And if he had a place where he could live alone, that was good since it gave him time to organise his activities and calm down. It would be nice to live with a boyfriend, have someone to come home to, and recently he had started imagining Ten to be that person. Ten wasn’t so hot on spending all the time together and needed Kun to understand and get on board with that.

“Normally I would be going out, like with friends and even alone for a walk, so I just _wouldn’t_ have so much time to spend with you,” Ten spoke and reached for the cup of hot tea, cradling it in his hands, “but babe, I wouldn’t just leave you!”

“No, I know that, but our schedules and dynamic will change,” Kun replied. Kun was glad that they had similar schedules. For example, they both liked staying up at night. They could stay awake together, in bed with their laptops and phones. So there was little adjusting and drama. Their current dynamic was relaxing home.

“How about we cross that bridge when we get to it?” Ten asked, “it will change, I know that, but I don’t think it´s gonna be extreme. Or... you want to be sure, make some sort of plan?”

“Well not a plan... but do you ever think about us in like one, two or three years from now? Ten years?” Kun asked lightly.

Kun wasn’t the kind of person to overthink the future and plan out his whole life, but more so than Ten. Ten didn’t want to limit himself with more than loosely defined plans because who knew what would happen, just enjoy it now. That´s why he didn’t want to talk about the future too much. But he didn’t want to put a strain on their relationship either, put a strain on Kun from making him feel like Ten didn’t take them seriously and didn’t want him around.

“When I think about my future, I think about you as well,” Ten said carefully, “I just can’t know what exactly will happen. Why plan years ahead when those years haven’t come yet?”

“Well, sometimes you need to plan ahead when those things require time,” Kun replied, “like getting a car or an apartment, it takes long time to find the right on. But I wasn’t asking about that, you can relax... more just generally...”

“So it´s OK with you if I don’t have a specific answer? Like we´re gonna move out into the suburbs and paint our house this colour and every Tuesday we play golf-“ Ten´s joking tirade was interrupted by Kun laughing.

“No! Don’t you dare making us into some boring boomer couple-,“ Kun spoke and Ten erupted into laugher as well.

“It´s hard to plan anything substantial when we can barely do anything, in the outside world,” Kun said, jerking his head in the direction of the window and the stilled city, “but I´m already planning taking you out for dinner.”

“Hm... keep talking... where will we go?” Ten asked, smiling indulgently as the images played in his mind.

“To some good restaurant, maybe Italian, I know you like that cuisine.”

“I do! But we can go anywhere else. As long as it´s not a fucking fruit bar,” he mumbled, much to Kun´s amusement.

“Just a regular bar, maybe?” he asked as he tugged on Ten´s hair.

“Hey!” Ten exclaimed and retaliated, but also let Kun do whatever he wanted to his hair, “I´d love to go out for a nice dinner with you. Hell, I´m even willing to pay. It´s not true that I never pay, I wouldn’t mind paying for you, Kun. You deserve to be treated to a nice dinner.”

New was talking about this. New was making plans together, small ones or even those on a larger scale, although those would come later and more slowly.

“We have so much to explore in NCT,” Ten said, smiling proudly, “I´ll take you to all my favourite spots, museums, bars, cafés. You´re gonna love it, it´s gonna be so much fun.”

And having an actual boyfriend wasn’t just fun, comfort and sex. It meant counting on each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * [ Show Me Love](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNf1tfEtfXI) by Alicia Keys.  
> * Guess what videos I´ve been watching lately… What would happen if Earth was [ a rogue planet](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLZJlf5rHVs) or [ met one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwcfkzxNre4)??  
> Also, Ten teaching Louis and Leon in his [ relay cam](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG4wXgEw2QY&t)!  
> And we´ll see if Ten and Kun can train their cat like that LOL


	3. Winter ❄

Winter approached N city like it had done each year, not showing any intention to end 2020 quickly.

Ten noticed that the temperatures this winter had dropped lower than usually and snow has been falling more often so there was more of it on the ground and the rooftops. It looked wonderful. It was Kun´s first winter in NCT. When he looked out of the window after waking up, the view was unexpected, but magnificent. Almost every surface was covered by a thick layer of fresh snow. He liked looking at the pure brightness and it made him want to go outside, even if he knew it was dreadfully cold today. So Kun opened the window just a fraction, to be able to scoop some of the snow on the parapet, and Ten came over to join him.

Despite how different this year had been, the cold weather and the sight of the sparkling snow still brought the same kind of wonderful and magical feeling, a festive mood. But unlike the previous seasons they couldn´t go out to marvel at the decorations and have fun walking through the shopping centres and Christmas stalls with food, drink and gifts that would be on the streets and squares. They could barely see any decorations from their apartments, safe for those that people put up in the windows and on their balconies. And being without family and other friends during the holiday season was a new experience. It would perhaps be forlorn if they didn’t have each other.

It felt like pieces of a puzzle were missing and the holidays were sort of hidden. Nevertheless, Ten and Kun enjoyed celebrating their first Christmas and New Year together.

Their winter holiday adventures were certainly something. They included an attempt to bake Christmas cookies. First of all, neither Kun nor Ten had the right equipment so they had to improvise a lot. Neither of them had also ever tried to bake cookies, so it was exciting, and the prospect of a plate of delicious pretty sweets was enough to convince them. In the end Kun´s apartment smelled of baking, of sugar and spices, and the air was warm, but the kitchen counters and table looked like something had exploded on them and the cookies´s quality was a range (Ten made _something_ that resembled _bread_ *). Then Ten refused to go downstairs to his own place because it didn’t smell that nice, so he just brought Devil upstairs again and they took over the couch.

“It smells like being inside of a gingerbread house,” Ten hummed dreamily.

“But... you know there was an evil witch that wanted to eat them, right?” Kun couldn’t help but tease him.

“Best hope I´m not the evil witch,” Ten retorted, with a dangerous glint on his teeth.

“Best hope I won´t eat you,” Kun replied, suddenly with such a wicked expression that Ten changed his plan from freshly baked cookies to him in an instant. They tasted the cookies only a long time afterwards and had to restrain themselves from devouring all of them because they were that hungry. Later that night they turned on the video chat with Taeyong and Doyoung to brag about their baking success.

They also decorated their apartments with ornaments, lights and candles. Ten helped Kun as he didn’t own any decorations, lending him some from his small collection and creating new ones. Ten´s artistic talent truly shone because he was able to create really pretty ornaments from random scraps of paper and a bottle of glitter glue. And during all of that they listened to Christmas songs, dancing and not caring if their neighbours would hear. Those poor souls must had already heard them having sex, after all, so they could cope.

It was two days later when Ten found photos of Taeyong´s perfect (!!) Christmas cookies while scrolling through Instagram. Taeyong seemed excited to try capitalizing on them. Ten hyped him up and really hoped Taeyong´s idea would work out. He needed the money now that he was unemployed and a father to an aquarium.

And during actual Christmas Johnny organised a video group chat so celebrate this year´s “Johnnystmas” as he named it. Everyone cringed but no one had the heart to tell him it was a horrible name. It was nice to catch up and wish each other great holidays.

* * * * *  
* * * * *

It was normal to rely on each other for support and comfort and lift each other´s moods. Especially during the holidays and on their birthdays because both of them missed their family and friends a lot. Neither of them had ever been alone on their birthday, always celebration it among family and friends. It wasn’t that bad since they could talk over the phone or video. And Kun´s and Ten´s families called to wish them a happy birthday. But having a boyfriend with you made it all better.

There were a few people in their now combined friend group who had been born in January or February so there were some online parties. Waking up with a bit of a hangover felt almost sentimental, Ten thought.

Most of them also gathered to celebrate the New Year in January and the lunar New Year in February as well. Their non-Chinese friends were curious, Mark especially seemed ecstatic to party for a second time. The break of the year meant the conditions would change for the better, or at least they hoped so. Kun send greeting cards to everyone. Sicheng and Lucas successfully prepared the traditional dumplings with Kun´s online help and Sicheng posted the photo in their chat. Chenle and Renjun put up red lampions (not with candles, thank god!) in their dorm room.

“Fuck, yeah, finally there´s the new year!” Hendery called as he forced a colourful party hat on Dejun´s head. They were already wearing crazy party sunglasses and wigs so who knew why Dejun was protesting now.

“To only good things to come to all of us!” Doyoung said and evaded the glittering strings of tinsel that Taeyong threw at him and they disappeared off the screen to battle it out and possibly murder each other.

Soon, the atmosphere was chaotic, voices were speaking over each other and everyone was at least tipsy. Jaehyun was on his sixth glass of whatever he was drinking, although he didn’t appear drunk at all. He and Johnny pretended to clink their glasses through screens. Sicheng returned to his computer after a long time, now with a bag of chips.

“You almost missed the midnight, man!” Lucas shouted at him.

“Oh, it´s gonna be midnight soon, everyone!” Mark shouted, waving his phone around. Only one minute remained. Noise escalated as everyone got excited and waited.

“Ten!”  


“That´s me!”

“Nine!”  


“Eight...” Kun tried to look at each of them on the screen to keep all the excitement in his memory. He felt Ten´s arm around his waist as he pulled him closer.

“Finally...!” Ten grinned at him and got ready to kiss him in a few seconds.

“Three, two, one!”

“To a better 2021!!” someone shouted through the speakers and someone finally popped the champagne. Raucous and shouts and laughter ringed through Ten´s living room. There were no fireworks outside the window, but this made up for it more than enough. Kun kissed him before he could do it first.

* * * * *  
* * * * *

Kun and Ten had a routine special to them as a couple now. They usually had breakfast together, worked from their own apartments as it was calmer and they could focus better, sometimes met for lunch a sang and hummed while cooking, and spent most evenings together. Watched films and tv series, played with Devil and spoiled her, bickered about nothing in particular. Fell asleep and woke up in the same bed, slept in late on weekends. They basically lived together. Some of their belongings naturally found their way to each other´s apartments and they occasionally stole each other´s clothes because it was handy.

Kun loved when Ten made him coffee in the morning, always picking out his favourite mug, sometimes making cinnamon art in the foamed milk. Kun still made sure Ten´s fridge and cupboards were filled with enough ingredients and real food. Ten still requested Kun do stuff for him, especially cook, and Kun still argued but did it anyway, because was there anything he could refuse to do while facing Ten? Ten kept an eye on Kun´s unhealthy habit of overworking himself and made sure to take some responsibility and not let Kun do so much for him.

It was new and not new. They had spent many hours together either on the fire escape stairs or on video call before, learning about each other, supporting each other, flirting... But it was incomparable. They were dating now and could feel the difference, knew they were each other´s _special person_. Their dynamic had changed, but quickly and naturally. Ten and Ken realised that having the other one physically present have improved their lives.

Some people would ask themselves; had most of this happened just because I _had happened_ to be there? Would we had developed a connection and fallen in love and started dating other people, if _they_ had been here instead? How much of this was “real” and how much simply brought on by the pandemic, the limited options, the forced isolation and the desire to be with someone?

It was difficult to meet someone new, someone who was worth it, an interesting, caring and good person, in these times. There was no place where to meet people except online and dating apps meant a tone of unsuitable or problematic people to sift through. How lucky were you to strike up a friendship with your new neighbour? And start something more?

Good thing Ten or Kun weren’t the kind of people to drown in such questions. It was true, they could have experienced all of that with someone else. Ten was an extravert and Kun was ready to make friends in the new city. A lot of people were nice and interesting. But they _had_ met and they _had_ fallen for each other. And what they had was 100 % genuine and worth it.

* * * * *  
* * * * *

It was early evening and Ten has just arrived to Kun´s apartment for their date. Now they were trying to decide what they should do, absentmindedly going over the ever-expanding list of anime and films they wanted to watch. Ten came back from the kitchen and placed their drinks on the coffee table. In the meantime, Kun had settled on the couch and now he pulled Ten down to land on his lap.

“Oh my god,” Ten gasped and wiggled to find a new balance.

“I have an idea for tomorrow,” Kun spoke, “just hear me out, just a suggestion.”

“OK? What is it about?”

“I was thinking, do you want to maybe say hello to my parents? I´m on call with them tomorrow and I know they would like to meet you, Ten.”

“Oh? Well...,” Ten replied, taken aback at the sudden question and he thought about it, “OK. I´d like to meet them. But please make sure to like prepare them, yeah? Like tell them that we haven’t been dating for a long time.”

Meeting the parents would undoubtedly be new for either for them, and it could feel like a milestone was being stepped over.

But being introduced to family members sounded like it made sense. Both were really close with their families and could always tell them anything. They knew all their other friends. Kun would really like his parents to meet Ten because he meant a lot to Kun, was everywhere in his current life and Kun had spoken about him many times already. Ten thought it would be nice to get to know them a little in person and to introduce himself. He wanted to meet them because Kun was important to him and they were _his_ parents. But he didn’t want to be pressured by family members who expected weddings and such. Kun knew about this and honestly didn’t think it was too early, but would make sure to talk to his parents beforehand.

“Don´t worry, I´ll talk to them,” Kun said, “I don’t like it when they get too involved either.”

“I can introduce you to my parents and sister too,” Ten spoke. Tern _has_ been pestering him about his “new boyfriend, I wanna know who can even stand to be with you, Ten!” Plus, it seemed only fair, if Ten was gonna meet Kun´s parents.

February was ending, the mornings were getting brighter, SHINee just had a comeback with a music video* that killed all the sasaengs in Korea, and Kun and Ten have listened to their newest album a few times already. But the end of February also marked half a year since Ten and Kun have become boyfriends, since their first hasty date on that pleasant summer afternoon in August. And they would definitely take the opportunity to celebrate another one of their moments as a couple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wishing only the best to Kun and Ten.
> 
> * Check out the [ episode of JCC](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TinKW3HJ7Y)! in which Ten, Johnny and Mark attempted to make Christmas cookies without a recipe. It´s one of the best and most chaotic episodes ever! :D
> 
> Also...  
> * SHINee´s fucking back! SHINee´s fucking back! SHINee´s fucking back, everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
> Their [ mv](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6OoY6xneI0) shocked me, but in such very good way!!!!!!!!!!! Listen to [ the entire album](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH34udA-s-I&t).  
> Wishing a great year to all of you and SHINee as well!

**Author's Note:**

> This turned out to be longer than I expected, so I split it into chapters!


End file.
